refus vs Reis, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“refus” and “Reis” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,164
“refus” frequency rank: #49,902
“Reis” frequency rank: 53066
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	refus	Reis
Definition	Action de ne pas accorder ce qui est demandé.	Riz.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set refus and Reis apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

refus

4 ch

Reis

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. refus (\ʁə.fy\) and Reis (\raɪ̯s\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53066, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

refus is recorded at frequency rank #3,164, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.fy\. Reis is at rank #49,902, tagged as anoun, pronounced \raɪ̯s\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 53066, this pair ranks #143,331 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of refus vs Reis

Shared letters: ers. Private to "refus": fu. Private to "Reis": i.

"refus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "Reis" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

refus ← erfus · reffus · refsu · refuss · reufs · rfeus · rrefus
Reis ← eris · reiss · resi · rreis

Frequency comparison

refus#3,164

Reis#49,902

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "refus" and "Reis" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (\ʁə.fy\ versus \raɪ̯s\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "refus" or "Reis"?

"refus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,164 in our French list, against #49,902 for "Reis". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering refus vs Reis

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “refus” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable